Accidents, Car Brands, States and Driver Ages–Who Crashed the Most?
Wouldn’t it be great if there was some way of looking at a car that someone was driving, or where the car was being driven, or who was driving it, and predicting whether or not they would be more likely to get into an accident?
Well, we can’t really do that with any accuracy. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have statistics that tell us what kind of cars are more or less likely to get into accidents.
Remember that with these kinds of studies, variables can affect the outcome. So, the outcome of a study can depend on how you define accident (for example, injury or non injury, or whether a single car accident is included).
Car Brands
With that caveat, lendingtree.com looked at the frequency that car brands got into accidents, and also accounted for the rates of DUIs, speeding tickets, and insurance data, to come up with its statistics.
When all was said and done, the car brand most likely to get into an accident was a Tesla. Tesla had 24 accidents for every 1,000 of them on the roadway. But the second place finisher was somewhat of a surprise—RAM trucks were in second place, with 23 accidents per 1,000 cars.
However, RAM trucks were the worst in the nation state by state, being the most accident prone cars in 23 states, and being cited with the most traffic citations of any manufacturer. Tesla was the worst (most accident prone) in 11 states.
The safest vehicles are those that are no longer being made—Pontiac, Saturn and Mercury vehicles.
There are no easy answers to determine why certain brands performed the way they did in the study. One common denominator, at least with Tesla and RAM, is speed and horsepower. Tesla’s electric motors, and RAM’s larger gas-powered engines, often lead to dangerous driving.
DUIs
The picture changes a bit when only comparing DUIs. The car brand most likely to get cited with a DUI, were BMWs. Although RAM came in second place, it was a distant second, and Tesla was nowhere near the top of the list here.
State by State
Taking away the variable of car brands, and just looking at state accident rates, the study found that Massachusetts, Rhode Island and California, had the most accidents per 1,000 vehicles. North Carolina and California lead the country when it comes to just DUIs.
Ages of Drivers
The study found that Gen Z drivers—those aged about 18-26—had the highest accident rates, double that of millennials (aged 27 to 42). The safest? The silent generation, which also happens to be the oldest generation of drivers on the roadways.
The data is interesting, but it has a purpose: no matter what kind of driver you are, your insurance rates will be based on the accident frequency of the kind of car that you drive.
Contact the Tampa personal injury lawyers at Barbas, Nunez, Sanders, Butler & Hovsepian and schedule a consultation today for help with your car accident case.
Sources:
lendingtree.com/insurance/generation-incidents-study/
cnbc.com/2023/12/19/tesla-drivers-had-highest-accident-rate-bmw-drivers-most-duis-study.html
lendingtree.com/insurance/brand-incidents-study/
